Agency Capacity for Detecting and Responding to Fish Disease

Disease management is a growing concern to fisheries stakeholders and state fisheries agencies.  In recent years, fish diseases including viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, infectious pancreatic necrosis virus, whirling disease, and others have created serious impacts warranting management attention.  Although disease management is a priority, management of disease is a complex endeavor.  Emergence of new diseases, spread of existing diseases, changing understanding of disease ecology and effects, and the variability of stakeholders’ thresholds of tolerance for disease in their environment create an ever-changing context as agencies try to formulate rapid and effective responses.  In such contexts, factors that influence agency capacity to manage effectively are important considerations.  We report on results of research in which we surveyed fishery managers and disease experts throughout the United States to identify primary fish health concerns and factors that influence the abilities of agencies to address these concerns.  A wide range of factors influence the capacity of agencies to manage fish disease effectively, but a subset of these factors tends to distinguish high capacity agencies from low capacity agencies.